Coupling.



I. H. MILLIKEN.

COUPLING. 7 APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26. 1915.

1,148,039. Patented July 27, 1915.

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IsAAc n. MILLIKEN, or ASPINWALL, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIcNonl TO THE McCONWAY a TOR-LEY COMPANY, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION or PENN- SYLVANIA.

COUPLING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 2'7, 1915.

Application filed March 26, 1915. Serial No. 17,128.

T all whom it may concern Be it known that I, IsAAO H. MILLIKEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Aspinwall, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Couplers; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to the construction of that class of car couplings having for their object the effecting of a coupling between the cars of a train whether the same be provided with a link or shackle or an automatic vertical plane type of coupler. The demand for an eflicient coupler of such a type has been created by the introduction abroad of the vertical plane or Master Car Builders type of coupler, and its substitution for the link and shackle type of couplers.

In the case of cars equipped with the link and shackle couplings the buffers are'two in number and are located near the opposite ends of the buffer beam or end sill of the car. As the hooks of the couplings do not extend out as far as the faces of these buffers, such hooks are commonly connected by a link device which is adapted to be adjust ed by a screw to thereby assure contact betweenithe buffers of the opposed cars.

In the case of cars equipped with the vertical plane or Master Car Builders type of coupler, the lateral buffers on the bufler beam or end sill located near the ends thereof are usually omitted and the 'bufiing is of fected by the coupler either alone or acting in conjunction with a centrally disposed or platform buffer.

As heretofore constructed, to meet the conditions existing during the period of transition from one type to the other type of coupling, transition couplers have been complicated, expensive to build and maintain, weak in structure, and having their elements so combined that the value of the device as a coupler will cease with the transitory demand therefor, because when disassociated its elements will fail to be of any utility and will be valueless except as scrap.

The object of my present invention .is to obviate the disadvantages and losses hereinbefore noted and to meet the necessary re same that after the demand for a transition coupler has ceased the hook element thereof may be disassociated from the combinationwithout material labor and without Weak ening or destroying the efficiency of the remaining parts, which themselves constitute a complete vertical plane coupler.

To this end, the main feature of my invention involves the combination with the stem or shank of a vertical plane coupler, of a hook member mounted thereon in advance of the pivotal point of the stem and to one side of the longitudinal aXis of the stem or shank, whereby any draft force exerted on the hook will cause and maintain the radial lateral displacement of the stem of the vertical plane coupler.

There are other, minor, features of invention, involving the particular relation and arrangement of the 'coacting elements, all as will hereinafter more fully appear.

In the drawings chosen for the purpose of illustrating my invention, the scope whereof tion more fully so that others skilled in the art to which it appertains may apply the same.

In the drawings, 1 indicates a coupler head having a guard arm 2, pivoted knuckle 3, look 4 and stem 5, all of which may be of any desired or approved form of the vertical plane or Master Car Builders type now in use. The stem or shank 5, which is preferably formed integral with the coupler head, has a pivot hole for the tail pin 6 whereby it may be attached by means of a tail pin and a spring-pocket or draft-bolt to any suitable design of draft gear so as to permit said coupler to have the requlred lateral or radial movement in a supporting carrier iron. The draft gear and carrier iron are not shown in full because they are well and universally known to those skilled in the art and may be of any desired charac- 11o ter, but the direct connection of the coupler stem 5 with the draft gear by means of the tail pin 6, is indicated by showing a portion 10 of a spring pocket.

At one side of the longitudinal axial line of the coupler stem or shank 5 and in advance of the pivotal point 6, I attach a hook 7 that is adapted to cooperate with a coupling link or shackle of the usual form; and for this purpose I prefer to form the stem or shank 5 with laterally projecting ears or flanges S which are pierced for the passage 'of a pivot pin 9, whereby the hook 7 is so mountedon the stem or shank as to be capable of swinging laterally toward and from the shank.

The pivoted connection between the coupler shank 5 and the shackle engaging hook 7 permits the hook to assume a position close to the side of the stem or shank when not in service; and when in service the draft forces thereon will, by reason of the relation of the hook to the pivotal point 6 of the stem 5, maintain the shank or stem of the vertical plane coupler out of the line of draft, as indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawing.

\Vhen a transition coupler is no longer required, the link or shackle engaging hook 7 can be removed by withdrawing the pin 9, leaving a complete, strong, cheaply maintained and efficient vertical plane or Master Gar Builders type of coupler.

In the following claims any element which acts directly on the followers of the draft gear, as for instance a draft bolt, is to be considered the equivalent of a spring pocket.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with a vertical plane coupler having a stem, of means whereby said stem may be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, a hook member mounted on said stem at one side of the longitudinal axis thereof and in advance of the means for pivotally connecting said stem to the railway vehicle.

2. The combination with a vertical plane coupler having a stem, of means whereby said stem may be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, and a hook member pivotally mounted on said stem at one side of its longitudinal axis.

3. The combination with a vertical plane coupler having a stem, of means whereby said stem may be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, and a hook member pivotally mounted on said stem at one side of the longitudinal axis of the latter and in advance of the means for pivotally connecting said stem to the railway vehicle.

4. The combination with amvertical plane coupler having'a stem, of means whereby said stem may be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, members projecting laterally from said coupler stem adapted to be connected to a hook member, and a hook member pivotally connected to said laterally projecting members.

5. The combination with a vertical plane coupler having a stem, of means whereby said stem may be pivotally connected to a railway vehicle, and a hook member connected to said stem and movable toward and from the stem in the plane of movement thereof.

6. The combination with a vertical plane coupler having a stem, of means whereby said stem may be pivotally mounted on a railway vehicle, and a hook member which is secured to said stem and which is movable with said stem and also movable with respect thereto.

7. The combination with a vertical plane coupler having a rigidly connected head and stem, of a hook member detachably connected to said stem, said stem being provided with means whereby it is adapted to be connected to the draft gear of a railway vehicle, and said hook member being connected to said stem in advance of the means for connecting said stem to the draft gear.

8. The combination with a vertical plane coupler having a rigidly connected head and stem, of a hook member mounted on said stem, a draft gear spring pocket engaging said stem, and means for connecting said coupler stem and spring pocket.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ISAAC I-I. MILLIKEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

